Purpose: It’s simply a way to know and serve our community. It is also an active, fun way to make friends in the Eastbrook community. The goal is to help others that have unmet food needs as well as offer friendship and encouragement, but you can also get some exercise as well!

Responsibilities: Help with all aspects of the Saturday Food Pantry, including set up, preparing food supplies, greeting visitors, helping visitors select and receive food, take groceries to visitor’s vehicles, and build relationships.

How you’ll be able to build relationships with other members and/or the community: Relationships with other Eastbrook members and the community are built naturally from interactions over time. As more hours worked or longer one serves, the more broadly and quickly this will happen.

Qualifications: A wide range of abilities can assist the pantry. The most important qualification is a desire to help in some way.

Age Requirement: Adults as well as Middle & High schoolers at their parents’ discretion.

Training & Support: The pantry leaders will ensure you know what to do and how to do it. Everyone else working can provide guidance, as well. All workers lend a hand to others, as needed, so it’s a team-oriented environment. Just watching and asking questions is an option for getting oriented, initially, but Eastbrook provides staff on-site to help you get
started and stay engaged.

Purpose: To ensure the pantry on Monday night runs smoothly and our visitors are provided food with love and respect.

Responsibilities: To help where it is needed which can include organizing food supplies behind the scenes, preparing bags and boxes for distribution, greeting, serving our visitors, and helping take food to vehicles.

How you’ll be able to build relationships with other members and/or the community: Working at the pantry gives you opportunity to hang out with and work alongside other Eastbrook members, and will give you the opportunity to connect with our neighbors who are experiencing food emergency.

Qualifications: A desire to serve, we help you with the rest!

Age Requirement: Adults as well as Middle & High schoolers at their parents’ discretion.

Training & Support: Due to the smaller number of visitors on Monday Nights, the team is smaller than Saturdays. You work directly alongside the team lead and Eastbrook staff to provide food the community. As a result, training and support happens in real time as we serve shoulder-to-shoulder.

Purpose: To offer God’s love to people in the community through a ministry of presence that involves listening, prayer, and care for everyone who comes to the food pantry.

Responsibilities: Greeting visitors, asking them and listening to them about their needs, building relationships, offering to pray for visitors and fellow team members, offering additional resources such as Bibles and devotionals, and when God opens the door to share the hope of the Gospel.

How you’ll be able to build relationships with other members and/or the community: Through directly asking them about their lives and needs, and what they need prayer for.

Qualifications: A follower of Christ who is mature in their faith. One who can discern when to proclaim and when to embody the love of Jesus Christ to those whom we serve and those whom we serve alongside.

Age Requirement: 18+ years old.

Training & Support: You will work alongside Eastbrook staff who responsibility is to provide the pastoral and spiritual care of all who serve and visit the food pantry. Additional training from the Hunger Task Force is required, including Civil Rights training. You will then start by shadowing fellow team members and then serve as a member of the care team.

Purpose: To welcome visitors to the pantry, and ensure the food pantry can keep accurate, honest records of who visits and receives food. This information is required by the Hunger Task Force who provides us much of the food we distribute.

Responsibilities: To greet visitors to the pantry, ask to see their ID(s), ask them further questions about their family and needs, and then record that information on the provided intake paperwork or in the online database.

How you’ll be able to build relationships with other members and/or the community: Through spending time talking with the visitors to the food pantry, as well as hanging out with other volunteers at the pantry. By warmly greeting people, and asking for the required information in a way that respects their dignity, members of this team set the tone for our visitors and create an environment that makes more relational connections possible throughout the visitors’ experience.

Qualifications: Being comfortable talking cheerfully with people, asking for personal information, and accurately record it as needed.

Age Requirement: 18+

Training & Support: Team leads and Eastbrook staff are on-site to help train and support you as you serve. We provide specific intake procedure training to ensure you are comfortable and equipped to gather and record all necessary intake information.

Purpose: To serve as a team to transport purchased food from the Feeding America warehouse (on Fond Du Lac Ave) to the food pantry, where it is sorted and packed away.

Responsibilities: To drive to Feeding America, load the pallets of food into cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, and transport it to the food pantry. We also unload the food, and pack the food as necessary, sorting it between freezers, refrigerators, and non-refrigerated areas.

How you’ll be able to build relationships with other members and/or the community: You will get to spend time with the other members of the Friday Morning Crew. Over time, we have created quite the crew and enjoy serving together!

Qualifications: Able to lift and move boxes of food. A car and driver’s license is preferred, but you can ride with others if needed.

Age Requirement: 18+ years old

Training & Support: Team leads or Eastbrook staff are present every Friday and provide direction as they serve with you.

Purpose: To provide healthy fresh produce to members of the community who may not be able to purchase locally grown food. For Eastbrook members, it provides the opportunity to meet church members who enjoy working in the garden and spend time with them as we support an important outreach ministry at the church.

Responsibilities: Plant, cultivate, and harvest fresh, chemical free vegetables for distribution to the local community at the food pantry. This also includes helping water and weed the garden throughout the growing season.

How you’ll be able to build relationships with other members and/or the community: Fellowships formed with fellow church members while working together in the garden.

Qualifications: Basic level of garden experience and willingness to learn more, Master Garden qualification a plus for anyone interested in being a team lead, but not required.

Age Requirement: 18+ years old if serving alone, families can serve together.

Training & Support: The garden team lead manages both the garden plan and coordinates fellow volunteers. Eastbrook provides the supplies needed to serve in the garden.